the birds ARRIVED this weekend good heavens. with the snow-eating wind came VAST numbers of robins. and also, very exciting to me, a large flock of bohemian waxwings! they are swarming the neighborhood, mostly due to the neighbor's backyard crabapple and some wayside juniper shrubs. i have never seen this species before, only the cedar waxwings that appear on a tree suddenly and fly away to somewhere else. it's very fun to watch them call to each other and drop crabapples on my deck.
seeing the robins try to bathe in the gutter snowmelt reminded me to clean out the water dish near my birdfeeder. the sun has wrapped around to the deck again to keep it thawed, and a supply of fresh water means a near endless parade of thirsty little orbs in my yard this week. i dump it out and refill it every day since bird flu is very real, though this strain is mostly affecting waterfowl and raptors instead of the songbirds. the thistle-seed feeder has been popular with local goldfinches, house finches, and juncos all winter and i try to keep it cleaned. the finches also really like the old blackeyed susans in the yard. they aren't my favorite flower but they sure are nice for winter wildlife.
robins are probably considered boring and common but i love these active bouncy thrushes. they don't kick up mulch like the towhees do, though they are happily foraging the newly exposed lawns and pecking snow from the edge of the remaining banks. my favorite bird is always the one i am looking at.
the robin swarm reminds me of the Grackle Cloud that happens in the fall some years. i don't see it every time but last year it went on for a mile! it was like 15 minutes of grackles passing overhead and an awesome thing to see. we also get migrating armies of chipping sparrows that are happiest if you have some grass going to seed. i mostly only notice them when they are (gently) bouncing off the front window and leaving dusty feather prints behind.